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For 44 A, Chambers says '...or a group of ...' so it seems fine.

ethik - 10d, the wordplay is the last 5 words of the clue and breaks down as a 1 letter abbreviation + 3 letter word around another 1 letter abbreviation.

Thanks to one and all!

I had read about 25a just a couple of months ago in an excellent book by David Bellos, 'Is That a Fish in Your Ear?' The creator of what is represented in the grid by five letters to be removed entirely was Gilbert Adair, which multiplied my admiration of the puzzle enormously.

As some have said, the enjoyment is much enhanced by reading up on the whole fantastic exercise. Adair's version includes a 12-line rewrite of a poem by Poe (Quoth that Black Bird, "Not Again") which is worth the price of the (Bellos) book alone.

Sorry - the puzzle. Yes, I thought 21D must involve 'fish', and my only quibble was with 11D, in which 'in' seems to be doing double duty.

I have a fully completed grid, I know the theme and I have identified the relevant five cells in the top and bottom rows. Then I became stuck. What is PREMIER AUTEUR and what does SLIP INTO ADAIR signify? I have had enough grid staring. Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

replace adair ( the first author/premier auteur) with the author of 25a

Sudokulover - it's that simple! I made the mistake of looking up auteur in Chambers (= a film director) instead of in my French dictionary.

Thank you for your help.

Finally caught up with this one and found it entertaining but not too hard. Struggled with the bottom left quadrant, until i realised that i had 25 down incorrectly answer.

The clue is: See first half of game on the run (6)
As you may recall, the answer is LOPING (LO + PING) meaning RUN
I had GATHER (GA + THE +R) meaning SEE.

Only when i solved 41a did i realise the error.